RULES OF THUMB FOR PAINTING AND ESTIMATING

Rules of Thumb are general guidelines and are often used for the purposes of
estimating. These do not always give exact numbers but are intended to provide a
good working number.

Definitions: R Radius; D Diameter; LF Lineal Feet, SF Square Feet;

W Width; H - Height

Estimating Square Footage:

To get Square footage on

Caged Ladder Mutiply LF by 10
Handrails Mutiply LF by 4
Grating Mutiply LF by 4
Stairs with 1 Hand Rail Mutiply LF by 10
Stairs with 2 Hand Rails Mutiply LF by 15
Walkway with 1 Hand rail Mutiply LF by 15
Walkway with 2 Hand Mutiply LF by 20
Rails
Solid Floor Plate Mutiply LF by 15
Cylinder Mutiply LF by D x 3.142
Sphere Mutiply D x D x 3.142
Circle Mitiply R x R x 3.142
PIPING
1/2 to 3 Mutiply LF by 1.00
4 Mutiply LF by 1.19
6 Mutiply LF by 1.74
8 Mutiply LF by 2.26
10 Mutiply LF by 2.81
12 Mutiply LF by 3.34
14 Mutiply LF by 3.665
16 Mutiply LF by 4,19
18 Mutiply LF by 4.71
20 Mutiply LF by 5.24
24 Mutiply LF by 6.28
28 Mutiply LF by 7.33
30 Mutiply LF by 7.85
34 Mutiply LF by 8.90
36 Mutiply LF by 9.425
42 Mutiply LF by 10.10
Other Shapes
Joists (Treat as solid Mutiply LF by 2xH
surface)
Stacks Mitiply H Average D *3
Corrugated Metal 2 Mutiply LF by 1.08 x H
Corrugated Metal 1 Mutiply LF by 1.11 x H

Estimated Losses: Brush or Roller: 10%; Airless Spray: 20%; Conventional Spray: 30%
 PAINT CLACULATIONS

Theoretical Coverage
1 mil of 100% Solids Coating covers 1604 ft2/WFT

Practical Coverage
Theoretical Coverage x % Loss

Dry Film Thickness = DFT in mils

Wet Film Thickness = WFT in mils
All % are by volume and expressed as a decimal
i.e. 60% = .60

DFT = WFT x (% Solids)

% Solids
DFT = WFT
(1 + %Thinner )
DFT
WFT =
%Solids
DFT
WFT =
%Solids
100% +%Thinner

SURFACE CONTAMINATION CLACULATIONS

If you are measuring the salts using a conductivity meter

ppm = S * 0.7 (This is the most common value however I have seen numbers from
0.67 tp 0.85)

g/cm2 = ppm x ml water / Area Measured